INDEPENDENCE    HALL,    PHILADELPHIA 


V 


Haym  Salomon 


Haym  Salomon  ;:o 


THE  FINANCIER  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 


AN   UNWRITTEN    CHAPTER   IN 
AMERICAN    HISTORY 


By 
MADISON    C.    PETERS 


NEW     YORK 

THE     TROW     PRESS 

1911 


COPYRIGHT,   1911,  BY  MADISON  C.  PETERS 

All  rights  reserved 


President  Taft 
On  Haym  Salomon 

ADDRESS  AT  EIGHTH  STREET  TEMPLE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  be  here  to-night  and 
to  hear  the  eloquent  tribute  of  the  orator,  Dr.  Peters, 
to  what  the  Jew  has  done  in  American  history. 

One  of  the  privileges  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  to  attend,  and  to  feel  at  home  at,  the  religious 
services  of  every  denomination  that  is  fostered  under 
the  flag,  no  matter  what  his  own  church. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
in  so  far  as  he  may,  to  testify  to  his  interest  in  every 
religion  in  order  that  it  may  be  understood  of  all  men 
that  the  absence  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  of  any  recognition  of  a  state  church  gives  no 
right  to  any  man  to  infer  that  the  government  is  against 
the  churches.  On  the  contrary,  the  government  is  for 
all  the  churches,  and  it  eliminates  a  state  church  in 
order  that  it  may  embrace  all  and  support  all  and  pro 
tect  all  without  guiding  or  restricting  any. 

If  there  was  anything  that  I  could  criticise  in  my 
friend  Dr.  Peters'  address,  it  was  that  the  Jews  of  the 
United  States  do  not  need  the  elaborate  defense  that 
he  has  made.  Their  position  in  this  country  goes  with 
out  saying — at  least  for  one  brought  up  as  I  was.  My 
father  was  a  member  of  the  Unitarian  Church  of  Cin 
cinnati,  and  that  church  stood  just  opposite  Dr.  Wise's 
synagogue — just  across  the  street,  on  the  corner  of 


222666 


President  Taft 


.Eighth,  ,Wt \PJjKto,  and  occasionally  \ve  exchanged  min 
isters,  and  we  had  Dr.  Wise  in  our  pulpit,  and  our 
minister  spoke  in  the  synagogue  across  the  street.  As 
a  consequence,  under  the  influence  of  my  father,  who 
was  the  broadest  man  I  ever  knew,  I  came  to  feel  that 
the  Jews  were  a  very  important  part,  as  they  were,  of 
the  citizenship  of  Cincinnati. 

And  as  I  attended  the  public  schools,  and  was  pre 
pared  for  college  there,  I  had  occasion  to  note  what 
Dr.  Peters  has  commented  on,  that  there  were  some 
young  men  and  women  with  "  stein  "  at  the  end  of  their 
names  who  were  always  among  the  first  in  the  class. 
Everyone  who  lives  in  a  community  like  that  of  my 
home  city  of  Cincinnati  knows  that  none  of  the  great 
charities,  none  of  the  theaters,  none  of  the  societies  for 
art,  artistic  development,  or  music,  could  live  if  it  were 
not  for  the  support  of  the  Jews. 

I  believe  it  to  be  true,  as  Dr.  Peters  says,  that  the 
Jews  are  not  very  rich,  but  they  are  all  engaged  in 
making  as  good  a  living  as  they  can,  and  in  supporting 
their  families  as  comfortably  as  they  can,  and  in  up 
holding  the  home  and  the  domestic  circle  as  the  most 
important  things  to  be  upheld  and  supported.  And  so 
it  is  that  they  are  a  most  important  part  of  every  com 
munity. 

It  is  pathetic  almost  to  see  the  Jews  of  the  East  Side, 
who  come  from  Russia  and  elsewhere,  seize  and  enjoy 
and  appreciate  the  opportunities  that  are  given  in  this 
government  for  education.  I  have  been  there  to  see  the 
energy  and  the  sincerity  with  which  they  respond  to 
every  patriotic  sentiment,  feeling,  as  they  do,  gratitude 
to  the  flag  under  which  they  enjoy  the  educational  and 
other  privileges  that  this  government  affords. 

I  believe,  and  I  am  proud  of  the  fact,  that  the  Jews 
in  America  enjoy  an  equality  that  they  have  in  only  a 

8 


On  Haym  Salomon 

few  other  countries  of  the  world.  I  don't  mean  to  say 
that  there  are  not  racial  prejudices  here;  I  don't  mean 
to  say  that  there  are  not  social  clubs  and  other  places 
where  the  small-headed  men  who  occasionally  get  into 
a  directory  manifest  their  greatness  by  using  a  blackball 
and  shutting  out  men  of  importance  in  the  community; 
but,  my  friends,  while  it  is  aggravating  and  exasper 
ating,  still  it  is  not  the  worst  thing  that  could  happen. 
I  have  had  it  happen  to  friends  of  mine — Gentiles — 
who  have  been  kept  out  of  clubs  by  people  who  are  not 
worthy  to  button  up  their  shoes,  and  who  have  no 
standing  save  in  clubs.  It  is  aggravating,  I  agree,  but 
a  man  is  what  he  is  by  reason  of  his  respect  for  him 
self,  and  if  he  knows  that  some  one  who  affects  to  snub 
him  and  look  down  upon  him  is  not  worthy — if  he 
knows  that  that  person  is  not  his  equal  and  he  cultivates 
any  of  the  philosophy  that  he  ought  to  call  to  his  aid — 
he  will  have  the  advantage  over  his  small-brained  and 
narrow-minded  critic  always. 

I  did  not  come  here  to  make  a  speech.  I  came  here 
to  second  the  motion  for  a  memorial  to  the  Jew  who 
stood  by  Robert  Morris  and  financed  the  revolution,  the 
friend  of  Kosciuszko  and  of  Pulaski,  both  of  whom  have 
monuments  here — a  man  who  apparently  gave  all  he 
had,  for  he  had  nothing  when  he  died — or  at  least  there 
was  nothing  except  what  he  ought  to  have  collected  and 
did  not — a  man  thrown  into  prison  as  a  spy  under  Clin 
ton,  and  who  escaped  because  he  could  talk  ten  different 
languages,  and  because  somebody  who  had  custody  of 
him  thought  he  would  be  more  useful  to  him  as  a  live 
interpreter  than  as  a  dead  man.  He  subsequently  es 
caped  and  devoted  his  entire  time  and  fortune  to  help 
ing  along  the  cause  of  the  revolution. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  read  those  letters,  to  which 
Dr.  Peters  has  referred,  in  which  Madison  speaks  of 

9 


Haym  Salomon 


the  strapped  condition  in  which  he  was  while  he  was 
trying  to  help  out  the  country  as  a  member  of  the  Con 
gress,  and  his  constant  application  to  his  friend  Salo 
mon  until  he  became  ashamed  to  go  to  him,  because 
Salomon  would  not  charge  him  any  interest.  Salomon 
must  have  had  a  pretty  heavy  load  to  carry  in  looking 
after  all  those  Congressmen,  but  they  were  necessary  to 
this  country,  and  he  knew  it.  It  is  not  the  man  only 
who  wears  the  uniform  and  carries  a  gun  or  a  sword 
and  has  epaulets  that  is  necessary  to  effect  a  successful 
revolution. 

Money  is  the  sinews  of  war,  and  the  necessity  for 
money  impresses  itself  as  the  fight  goes  on,  and  you  will 
observe  that  Haym  Salomon  was  most  active  during 
these  later  years,  when  the  strain  grew  harder  in  the 
fight  and  when  people  were  likely,  because  of  the  long 
struggle,  to  become  tired  out  and  to  lose  their  patriotic 
interest.  Then  it  was  that  he  negotiated  these  large 
loans;  then  it  was  that  he  helped  his  impecunious  asso 
ciates,  and  then  it  was  that  he  entitled  himself  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  entire  country.  If  there  should  be 
erected  a  memorial  to  him  in  Washington  to  testify  to 
his  disinterested  self-sacrifice  in  behalf  of  his  country 
it  would  be  most  appropriate. 

AUTHOR'S  NOTE: — In  an  address  in  San  Francisco,  on  "  The  Part 
of  the  Jew  in  the  Making  of  America,"  the  writer  spoke  of  Haym 
Salomon's  services  to  the  Nation,  and  on  his  suggestion  that  a  monu 
ment  be  built  to  the  Revolutionary  hero,  a  Committee  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  Hon.  Jalius  Kahn  was  named  as  Chairman.  Mr. 
Joseph  B.  Greenhut  was  chosen  Treasurer. 

At  an  address  given  in  Washington,  President  Taft  was  present  and 
spoke  what  is  here  printed  in  indorsement  oft  the  movement,  to  erect 
a  suitable  monument  in  recognition  of  Salomon's  services.  Mr.  William 
Salomon,  the  great  grandson,  heads  the  subscription  list,  and  favors  the 
movement.  No  return  of  the  loans  is  asked  by  the  family. 

For  particulars  of  the  movement  address  Hon.  Julius  Kahn,  House 
of  Representatives,  Washington,  D.  C.,  or  the  author  at  1822  Glenwood 
Road,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Subscriptions  should  be  sent  to  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Greenhut,  i8th  Street 
and  6th  Avenue,  New  York. 

M.  C.  P. 

IO 


I 
Haym  Salomon 

HAYM    SALOMON    was    born    at 
Lissa,  Poland,  in  1740,  of  Jewish- 
Portuguese  descent,  and  it  is  prob 
able  that  he  left  his  native  country  after  the 
partition  of  Poland  in   1772. 

Salomon's  family  were  highly  respectable 
and  learned  people.  He  enjoyed  the  friend 
ships  of  Kosciuszko  and  Pulaski,  the  noble 
patriots  who  unsheathed  their  swords  for  hu 
man  liberty. 

With  his  own  unhappy  country's  history 
and  with  his  hatred  of  despotic  Russia,  Salo 
mon  imbibed  a  love  of  liberty  which  extensive 
travel  in  Europe  intensified,  and,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  the  outbreak  of  the  Revo 
lution  found  him  an  ardent  supporter  of  the 
Colonial  cause. 

ii 


Haym  Salomon 

He  settled  in  New  York  and  there  married 
Rachel,  daughter  of  Moses  B.  Franks,  of 
London,  who,  as  well  as  his  brother,  the  dis 
tinguished  Jacob  Franks  of  the  Revolution 
ary  War,  died  in  New  York  while  it  was  yet 
a  colony.  Rachel  Franks  was  the  sister  of 
Colonel  Isaac  Franks,  a  Revolutionary  officer 
of  distinction,  and  of  Mayer  Isaac  Franks,  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania. 

Moses  and  Jacob  Franks  were  the  sons  of 
Adam  Franks,  of  Germany,  the  friend  of 
King  George  of  Hanover  and  who  loaned 
that  monarch  the  most  valuable  jewels  in  his 
crown  at  the  coronation. 

Jacob  Franks  was  the  British  King's  sole 
agent  for  the  Northern  Colonies  at  New  York, 
and  his  son  David  was  the  British  King's 
agent  for  Pennsylvania. 

When  the  Revolutionary  War  began,  Salo 
mon  identified  himself  with  the  American 
cause  and  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  as  a 
spy  soon  after  the  occupation  of  New  York 
by  the  British  in  1776.  Salomon  was  closely 
confined  for  a  long  time  in  the  prison  known 
as  "  the  Provost,"  which  stood  on  the  spot 
12 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

now  occupied  by  the  old  Hall  of  Records  in 
the  City  Hall  Park.  So  closely  were  the  pris 
oners  packed  there  that  when  they  "  laid  down 
at  night  to  rest,  when  their  bones  ached,  on 
the  hard  oak  planks,  and  they  wished  to  turn, 
it  was  altogether  by  command,  '  right — left,' 
being  so  wedged  as  to  form  almost  a  solid 
mass  of  solid  bodies." 

When  Salomon's  linguistic  proficiency  be 
came  known  (he  knew  Polish,  French,  Ger 
man,  Russian,  Spanish  and  Italian),  he  was 
turned  over  to  the  Hessian  general,  Heister, 
who  gave  him  an  appointment  in  the  com 
missariat  department,  where  his  greater  lib 
erty  enabled  him  to  render  much  service  to 
the  French  and  American  prisoners,  many  of 
whom  he  helped  to  escape.  He  created  dis 
sension  among  the  Hessian  officers,  prompt 
ing  many  to  resign  from  the  service. 

In  1778,  he  was  taken  by  the  British  gen 
eral,  Sir  H.  Clinton,  on  charges  that  he  had 
received  orders  from  Washington  to  burn 
fleets  and  destroy  their  warehouses,  "  which 
he  had  attempted  to  execute  to  their  great 
damage  and  injury." 

13 


Haym  Salomon 

He  was  imprisoned,  tortured,  and  con 
demned  to  a  military  death,  but  on  August  1 1, 
1778,  he  managed  to  escape,  by  bribing  his 
jailor,  leaving  behind  him  in  New  York  six 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  a  distressed  wife, 
and  child  one  month  old.  It  seems  likely 
that  his  intimate  friend,  the  brave  General 
McDougall,  who  then  commanded  the  Ameri 
can  army  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York, 
was  in  co-operation  with  him.  Fourteen  days 
later  Salomon  addressed  a  petition  to  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  setting  forth  his  services 
and  asking  for  some  employment;  but,  char 
acteristic  of  the  man,  he  asked  not  for  himself 
alone,  at  the  same  time  he  entered  a  plea  for 
the  exchange  of  Samuel  Demezes,  a  fellow 
prisoner. 

Congress  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  plea  and 
the  denial  worked  for  the  ultimate  good  both 
of  Salomon  and  the  young  country. 

The  tide  in  his  affairs,  and  as  the  story 
shows,  the  tide  in  the  affairs  of  the  young 
Republic,  turned  upon  his  escape  to  Phila 
delphia,  and  it  was  not  long  until  he  succeeded 
in  establishing  himself  in  business,  and  there 
14 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

becoming  one  of  the  greatest  financiers  of  his 
adopted  city. 

Salomon's  matchless  enterprise,  eminent  re 
spectability,  remarkable  intelligence,  irre 
proachable  integrity,  his  delicate  sense  of 
mercantile  honor,  his  unbounded  benevolence 
for  all  mankind,  and,  above  all,  his  undying 
hatred  of  English  tyranny,  soon  led  to  his 
recognition  by  the  leading  men  of  his  time, 
and  the  uncompromising,  implacable  foe  to 
British  dominion  was  brought  into  intimate 
relationships  with  the  Revolutionary  patriots. 

Early  in  1781,  he  made  known  through 
the  newspapers  that  he  was  a  dealer  in  bills 
of  exchange  on  France  and  Holland.  For  the 
most  part  the  money  advanced  by  Louis  XVI 
and  the  proceeds  of  the  loans  negotiated  in 
Holland  passed  through  his  hands.  He  was 
intrusted  with  the  negotiation  of  all  the  war 
subsidies  of  France  and  Holland  on  his  own 
personal  integrity,  which  were  sold  to  the  res 
ident  merchants  in  America  without  any  loss, 
at  a  credit  of  two  and  three  months,  for  which 
he  received  the  small  commission  of  one- 
fourth  of  one  per  cent.  Several  European  fi- 
15 


Haym  Salomon 

nancial  houses  did  business  through  him.  A 
few  days  after  the  foregoing  announcement, 
Robert  Morris  became  Superintendent  of 
Finance.  Morris'  diary  records  not  less 
than  seventy-five  financial  transactions  with 
Salomon,  between  August  1781,  and  April 
1784. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  writing  during  the 
dark  days  of  the  war  to  Robert  Morris,  says: 
"  It  is  by  restoring  public  credit,  not  by  gain 
ing  battles,  that  we  are  finally  to  gain  our  ob 
ject."  Haym  Salomon  brought  not  only  all 
his  wealth  to  the  aid  of  his  adopted  country, 
but  a  financial  insight  which,  for  clearness  and 
depth,  was  not  surpassed  by  Alexander  Ham 
ilton  nor  equalled  by  Robert  Morris.  Amer 
ica  found  in  Haym  Salomon  a  champion 
equalled  by  few,  his  fertility  in  resource  and 
soundness  of  financial  views  made  him, 
through  Robert  Morris,  Superintendent  of  Fi 
nance,  the  real  financier  of  the  Revolution  and 
judged  by  Alexander  Hamilton's  standard  of 
patriotism,  surpassed  by  none,  for  Haym  Salo 
mon  was  practically  the  sole  agent  employed 
by  Morris  for  negotiating  bills  of  exchange, 
16 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

by  which  means  the  credit  of  the  Government 
was  so  largely  maintained  during  this  period. 
We  do  not  wish  to  detract  from  the  glory  of 
Robert  Morris,  but  we  do  insist  that  the  suc 
cess  Morris  obtained  in  his  financial  schemes 
was  due  to  the  skill,  ability  and  sacrifice  of 
Haym  Solomon. 

On  July  12,  1782,  he  requested  Morris' 
permission  to  publish  the  fact  that  he  was 
broker  to  the  Office  of  Finance.  In  reference 
to  this  Morris  entered  into  his  diary:  "This 
broker  has  been  useful  to  the  public  interests. 
...  I  have  consented,  as  I  do  not  see  that 
any  disadvantage  can  possibly  arise  to  the 
public  service,  but  the  reverse." 

He  was  appointed  broker  to  the  French 
consul  and  the  treasurer  of  the  French  army 
and  fiscal  agent  of  the  French  Minister  to  the 
United  States,  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  enor 
mous  sums  passing  through  his  hands.  He 
was  the  principal  depositor  of  the  Bank  of 
North  America,  an  institution  founded 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Robert  Mor 
ris,  to  serve  as  a  means  of  obtaining  funds  to 
carry  on  the  Government,  the  first  and  only 

17 


Haym  Salomon 

bank  chartered  by  the  Revolutionary  Con 
gress.  The  accounts  of  fifteen  other  mer 
chants  who  commenced  with  the  opening  of 
the  bank  occupied,  in  all,  fifteen  pages,  up 
to  the  period  of  Salomon's  death,  while  Salo 
mon's  account  occupied  in  all  fifteen  pages, 
double  columns,  of  the  same  ledger.  Salo 
mon's  one  account  was  as  large  as  their  entire 
account  in  the  aggregate.  The  balances  at 
the  various  times  of  settlement  in  his  bank 
book  show  special  balances  of  from  $15,000 
to  $50,000  at  each  period.  The  amount 
charged  by  the  bank  to  his  account  as  paid  to 
Robert  Morris  was  over  $200,000,  while 
Robert  Morris'  own  account  during  the  same 
period  had  a  deposit  of  less  than  $10,000. 
A  further  interesting  fact  is  that  on  a  day 
when  Robert  Morris  deposited  $10,000  in 
the  bank,  he  received  exactly  the  same  amount 
from  Haym  Salomon. 

Morris'  diary,  August  26,  1782,  records: 
"  I  sent  for  Salomon  and  desired  him  to  try 
every  way  he  could  to  raise  money."  Two 
days  later  he  wrote:  "  Salomon,  the  broker, 
came  and  I  urged  him  to  leave  no  stone  un- 
18 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

turned  to  find  out  money  and  the  means  by 
which  I  can  obtain  it." 

Not  only  did  Salomon  advance  large  sums 
to  the  Government  for  which  he  received  no 
return,  but  the  services  of  James  Madison, 
Edmund  Randolph,  Generals  Mifflin,  St. 
Clair  and  others  were  retained  in  the  cause 
through  his  bounty.  In  Madison's  letter  to 
Virginia,  in  1781,  he  writes:  "  My  wants  are 
so  urgent  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppress 
them.  The  case  of  my  brethren  is  equally 
alarming."  Later  he  declares :  "  The  kind 
ness  of  our  friend  in  Front  Street  ( Mr.  Salo 
mon)  is  a  fund  that  will  preserve  me  from  ex 
treme  necessities,  but  I  never  resort  to  it  with 
out  great  mortification,  as  he  obstinately  re 
jects  all  recompense.  To  necessitous  delegates 
he  gratuitously  spares  from  his  private  stock." 

Henry  Wheaton  says:  "  Judge  Wilson,  so 
distinguished  for  his  labors  in  the  Convention 
that  framed  the  Federal  Constitution,  would 
have  retired  from  public  service  had  he  not 
been  sustained  by  the  timely  aid  of  Haym  Sal 
omon,  as  delicately  as  it  was  generously  ad 
ministered." 

19 


Haym  Salomon 

When  Salomon  was  called  on  to  advance 
the  entire  pay  for  the  ensuing  year  to  Jones, 
Randolph,  and  Madison,  as  members  of  the 
Revolutionary  Congress,  they  had  in  writ 
ing  allotted  that  Madison  should  get  fifty 
pounds  less  than  the  other  two,  but  Salomon, 
seeing  in  young  Madison,  then  only  twenty- 
nine  years  old,  those  great  talents  for  which 
be  became  distinguished  in  after  years,  pre 
sented  him,  from  his  own  private  purse,  the 
fifty  pounds,  thus  equalizing  the  pay  of  the 
whole  delegation. 

Jared  Sparks  in  his  life  of  Gouverneur 
Morris,  a  member  of  Congress  in  1780,  pub 
lishes  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Morris,  in 
which  he  declares  that  "  the  person  who  did 
loan  cash  to  a  member  to  relieve  his  distress 
in  that  day,  was  in  no  expectation  of  ever 
getting  repaid." 

James  Madison,  twice  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  most  learned  and  patriotic 
member  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress,  thus 
paid  his  tribute  to  Salomon's  devotion  and 
bounty :  "  When  any  member  was  in  need,  all 
that  was  necessary  was  to  call  upon  Salomon." 
20 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

Again  and  again  he  refers  to  his  "  little  friend 
in  Front  Street,"  acknowledged  not  only  his 
indebtedness  to  "  the  little  Jew  "  on  whose 
bounty  he  had  pensioned,  but  again  and  again 
refers  to  his  integrity  and  disinterestedness. 

It  is  true  that  there  were  merchants  who 
subscribed  to  make  up  army  supplies  in  1780, 
ostensibly  without  security,  but  Madison's 
journal  shows  that  they  had  a  contingent  se 
curity  of  the  best  Sterling  Exchange  to  the 
amount  of  150,000  pounds  in  excess  of  their 
subscription. 

Not  only  did  Salomon  aid  his  home  gov 
ernment,  but  he  was  the  confidential  friend 
and  adviser  of  agents,  consuls,  and  representa 
tives  of  foreign  powers  in  sympathy  with  the 
Revolutionary  movement.  He  had  confiden 
tial  relations  with  all  the  foreign  representa 
tives  at  one  time  or  another.  He  was  the  con 
fidential  friend  of  that  ardent  adherent  to 
the  American  cause,  Count  de  la  Luzerne, 
Ambassador  for  France.  With  this  appoint 
ment,  Salomon  was  made  banker  for  that 
Government.  He  was  appointed  by  Mon 
sieur  Roquebrune,  treasurer  of  the  forces  of 
21 


Haym  Salomon 

France  in  America  and  made  paymaster-gen 
eral,  which  office  he  filled  free  of  charge.  A 
letter  from  Count  Vergennes,  Minister  of 
Spain,  to  De  la  Luzerne,  states  that  in  two 
years  150,000  livres  (equal  to  present-day 
francs)  were  distributed  through  Salomon. 

Salomon  for  two  years,  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  out  of  his  own  private  purse  main 
tained  Don  Francisco  Rendon,  Ambassador 
from  Spain.  Writing  to  the  Spanish  Governor 
of  Cuba,  Rendon  says:  "  Mr.  Salomon  has 
obtained  money  for  his  Most  Catholic  Maj 
esty  and  I  am  indebted  to  his  friendship  in 
this  particular  for  the  support  of  my  charac 
ter,  as  his  Most  Catholic  Majesty's  agent 
here,  with  any  degree  of  credit  and  reputa 
tion,  and  without  it  I  would  not  have  been 
able  to  give  that  protection  and  assistance  to 
His  Majesty's  subjects  which  His  Majesty 
enjoins  and  my  duty  requires."  More  than 
$10,000  was  thus  advanced  which  was  never 
repaid. 

The  secret  support  of  Charles  III  of  Spain 
is  said  to  have  been  due  to  Salomon's  efforts. 

Although  Salomon  endorsed  a  great  por- 
22 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

tion  of  the  bills  of  exchange  for  the  amount 
of  loans  and  subsidies  our  Government  ob 
tained  in  Europe,  of  which  he  negotiated 
the  entire  sums  and  the  execution  of  which 
duty  required  a  great  deal  of  his  valuable 
time,  from  1781  to  1783,  still  there  was 
only  charged  a  fractional  percentage  to  the 
United  States.  He  never  caused  the  loss  to 
the  Government  one  cent  of  the  many  mil 
lions  of  his  negotiations,  either  by  his  own 
management  or  from  the  credit  he  gave  to 
others  on  the  sale  he  made  of  those  immense 
sums  of  foreign  drafts  on  account  of  the 
United  States. 

After  the  peace  of  1783,  when  foreign 
commerce  could  again  float  unmolested,  Salo 
mon  engaged  as  a  trading  merchant  to  Eu 
ropean  ports.  He  had  several  ships  upon  the 
sea,  but  through  the  failure  of  merchants  in 
whom  he  had  confidence,  he  suffered  great 
losses. 

Always  eager  to   help  his   fellowmen,   he 

gave  every  assistance  possible  to  those  who 

commenced  trading  after  the  war.     To  the 

president  of  the  National  Bank,  whose  part- 

23 


Haym  Salomon 

ner  was  the  Superintendent  of  Finance,  he 
gave  two  loans  of  $40,000  and  $24,000,  and 
without  interest.  The  firm  was  known  as 
Willing,  Morris  &  Swanick.  It  is  doubtful 
if  he  ever  got  any  of  his  money  back. 

So  successful  had  Salomon  become  that  he 
opened  up  an  establishment  in  New  York.  In 
the  Pennsylvania  and  Weekly  Advertiser, 
January  i,  1785,  appeared  the  following  an 
nouncement  : 

"  Haym  Salomon,  broker  to  the  Office  of 
Finance,  having  provided  a  license  of  ex 
ercising  the  employment  of  an  auctioneer  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  has  now  opened  for 
the  reception  of  every  species  of  merchandise, 
his  house,  No.  22  Wall  Street,  and  every 
branch  of  business,  which  in  the  smallest  de 
gree  appertains  to  the  profession — factor, 
auctioneer  and  broker,  will  be  transacted  in  it, 
with  that  fidelity,  dispatch  and  punctuality 
which  has  hitherto  characterized  his  dealings. 
The  house,  in  point  of  convenience  and  situa 
tion,  is  exceedingly  well  calculated  for  the 
different  kinds  of  business  above  mentioned, 
and  he  thinks  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  assure 
those  who  favor  him  with  their  orders  that 
the  strictest  attention  shall  be  paid  to  them 
and  the  utmost  care  and  solicitation  employed 

24 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

to  promote  their  interests.  The  nature  of  his 
business  enables  him  to  make  remittances  to 
any  part  of  the  world  with  peculiar  facility, 
and  this  he  hopes  will  operate  considerably 
in  his  favor  with  those  wrho  live  at  a 
distance. 

"  A  desire  of  being  more  extensively  use 
ful  and  of  giving  universal  satisfaction  to  the 
public  are  among  his  principal  motives  for 
opening  the  house  and  shall  be  the  great  lead 
ing  principles  of  his  transactions.  By  being 
broker  to  the  Office  of  Finance  and  honored 
with  its  confidence,  all  those  sums  have  passed 
through  his  hands,  which  the  generosity  of 
the  French  Monarch,  and  the  affection  of 
the  merchants  of  the  United  Provinces, 
prompted  them  to  furnish  us  with,  to  enable 
us  to  support  the  expenses  of  the  war  and 
which  have  so  much  contributed  to  its  suc 
cess  and  happy  termination.  This  is  a  cir 
cumstance  wrhich  has  established  his  credit  and 
reputation,  and  procured  him  the  confidence 
of  the  public,  a  confidence  which  it  shall  be 
his  study  and  ambition  to  merit  and  increase, 
by  sacredly  performing  all  his  engagements. 
The  business  will  be  conducted  upon  the  most 
liberal  and  extensive  plan,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Haym  Salomon  and  Jacob  Morde- 
cai." 

Salomon  died  suddenly  in  Philadelphia, 
January  6,  1785,  at  45  years  of  age.  He  left 

25 


Haym  Salomon 

a  widow  and  four  small  children,  to  use  the 
language  of  the  Congressional  report:  "to 
hazard  and  neglect."  Here  is  his  obituary 
notice  taken  from  the  Pennsylvania  Journal 
and  Weekly  Advertiser,  of  January  8,  1785  : 
u  On  Thursday,  died  Haym  Salomon,  a 
broker."  That  is  all,  not  a  word  about  his 
princely  fortune  to  the  new  Republic,  nothing 
about  his  self-denying  gifts  whereby  the  great 
geniuses  of  Revolutionary  days  could  give  the 
service  that  constructed  the  greatest  Nation 
on  the  globe,  nothing  about  his  leadership  in 
the  first  charitable  organization  among  the 
Jews  of  Philadelphia,  a  society  for  the  relief 
of  destitute  strangers,  nothing  about  his  loy 
alty  to  the  ancient  faith,  his  eminent  charac 
ter  as  a  business  man  and  high  standing  as  a 
citizen.  But — he  was  a  Jew !  That  tells  the 
story. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  authentic  cer 
tificate  from  the  Register's  office  in  Philadel 
phia,  showing  the  amount  of  public  securities 
and  Revolutionary  papers  left  by  Haym  Salo 
mon  and  from  which  personal  estate  not  a 
cent  has  been  received  by  any  of  his  heirs: 
26 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

58   Loan  office  certificates $110,233.65 

19  Treasury  certificates 18,259.50 

2   Virginia  State  certificates.  .  .         8,166.48 

70  Commissioners'  certificates.  .       17,870.37 

Continental  liquidate 199,214.45 


$353*744-45 

Besides  he  left  evidences  of  advances  to 
Robert  Morris  in  the  sum  of  $211,000,  a 
claim  of  $92,000  on  the  United  States  for  ad 
ditional  loans,  an  unpaid  balance  of  $10,000 
to  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  and  innumerable 
loans  to  Madison,  St.  Clair,  Steuben,  Wilson, 
and  many  others. 

The  condition  of  the  Government's  finances 
as  well  as  those  of  individuals  during  and  im 
mediately  after  the  Revolutionary  War  was 
almost  as  chaotic,  and  his  affairs  were  neces 
sarily  much  involved  and  his  family  were  al 
most  without  resources.  The  widow's  un- 
familiarity  with  business,  together  with  the 
monetary  situation  prevailing  at  the  time,  pre 
vented  her  ever  securing  a  dollar  of  the  $658,- 
007.13  advanced,  as  shown  from  document 
ary  evidence  afterwards  submitted  to  Con- 
27 


Haym  Salomon 

gress — an  enormous  sum  at  that  period  for  a 
private  individual,  when  all  commerce  and 
business  were  prostrated.  Madison,  in  1827, 
urged  that  the  memorialists  might  be  indemni 
fied  and  reports  in  their  favor  have  been  fre 
quently  made,  but  not  a  dollar  has  been  repaid 
— not  a  medal  granted  in  lieu  of  the  claim — 
a  fact  which  affords  support  to  the  oft-re 
peated  observation  of  the  ingratitude  of  re 
publics.* 

*The  descendants  of  Salomon  have  been  de 
prived  of  their  valued  inheritance  by  the  reason 
of  their  vouchers  being  lost  while  in  the  custody 
of  the  Government,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
destruction  by  the  British  of  many  of  the  public 
archives  of  that  period,  during  the  invasion  of 
Washington  in  1814. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  Twenty-ninth 
Congress  the  Senate  Committee  of  Claims  unani 
mously  agreed  upon  a  report  similar  to  that 
adopted  by  the  House  Committee  of  the  Thir 
tieth  Congress,  but  too  late  for  presentation. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty-second  Con 
gress  (February  24,  1893),  a  bill  presented  to 
the  House  ordered  that  a  gold  medal  be  struck 
off  in  recognition  of  services  rendered  by  Haym 
28 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

Ezekiel,  the  elder  son  of  Haym  Salomon, 
was  for  some  time  purser  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  died  in  1822  while  cashier  of  New 
Orleans  branch  of  the  United  States  Bank. 

Haym  M.,  the  younger  son,  established 
himself  in  the  mercantile  business  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  married  Ella,  the 
daughter  of  Jacob  Hart,  a  German  Jew  who 
came  to  America  in  1775,  became  a  promi 
nent  merchant  of  Baltimore  and  is  mentioned 
in  the  secret  journals  of  Continental  Congress 
as  having  headed  a  subscription  of  the  Balti 
more  merchants  for  the  relief  of  a  detachment 
of  the  American  Army,  under  command  of 
Lafayette,  then  passing  through  that  city. 

In  1844,  Haym  M.  Salomon  abandoned 
business,  gathered  the  evidence  proving  his 
father's  claim  against  the  Government  and  de 
voted  all  his  energies  to  recovering  the  fortune 
of  which  his  family  had  so  long  been  deprived. 

Salomon,  in  consideration  of  which  the  Salomon 
heirs  waived  their  claims  upon  the  United  States 
for  indemnity.  The  measure  was  reported  favor 
ably  by  the  House  Committee  on  the  Library, 
but  too  late  for  consideration. 
29 


Haym  Salomon 

He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Webster,  Clay, 
Calhoun  and  other  great  Americans  of  his 
time,  and  though  his  claims  were  frequently 
reported  favorably  by  committees  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  a  united  action  taking 
the  form  of  legislation  was  never  secured  by 
him. 

Colonel  David  Salomon,  grandson  of 
Haym,  was  a  man  of  mark,  and  after  having 
made  a  great  name  as  a  merchant  in  Phila 
delphia,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  created 
for  him  the  office  of  financial  agent  in  New 
York.  His  son,  William,  great-grandson  of 
Haym  Salomon,  one  of  the  famous  bankers 
of  New  York,  as  the  direct  descendant,  makes 
no  monetary  claim  upon  the  Government. 

For  the  justice  of  the  Haym  Salomon  claim 
we  have  the  highest  possible  authority.  In 
the  report  filed  in  the  Senate  during  the  twen 
ty-ninth  Congress  it  was  said: 

"  From  the  evidence  in  the  possession  of 
the  committee,  the  patriotic  devotion  of  Haym 
Salomon  to  the  cause  of  the  American  Inde 
pendence  cannot  in  their  judgment  be  ques 
tioned.  The  proof  of  his  eminent  character 
and  standing  as  a  citizen  and  merchant  is  very 
3° 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

clear  and  abundant."  Further  in  the  report, 
the  committee  found  Mr.  Salomon  to  have 
been  "  the  negotiator  of  all  the  war  subsidies 
obtained  from  France  and  Holland,  which  he 
indorsed  and  sold  in  bills  to  the  merchants  in 
America,  at  the  credit  of  two  or  three  months 
on  his  own  personal  security." 

In  the  same  report  it  was  also  stated : 

"  The  committee  from  the  evidence  before 
them  are  induced  to  consider  Haym  Salomon 
as  one  of  the  truest  and  most  efficient  friends 
of  the  country  in  a  very  critical  period  of  its 
history  and  when  its  pecuniary  resources  were 
few  and  its  difficulties  many  and  pressing. 
He  seems  to  have  trusted  implicitly  to  the 
National  honor;  and  the  committee  are  of  the 
opinion  that,  as  in  the  case  of  Lafayette  and 
others,  the  Nation  ought  to  be  liberal  in  their 
indemnity  to  a  son  of  any  early  benefactor  in 
the  day  of  its  prosperity. 

u  France,  in  the  most  pressing  times  during 
the  Revolutionary  struggle,  redeemed  her 
paper  obligations  by  means  of  the  public  do 
main;  and  generation  after  generation  of  Rev 
olutionary  claimants  in  this  country  have  been 
rewarded  by  a  grateful  people;  nor  ought  the 
memorialist  to  bear  exception.  His  claim,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  committee,  to  the  amount 
which  the  United  States  owed  to  his  father 
when  he  suddenly  died,  and  which  has  been 
clearly  established  by  documents  referred  to 

31 


Haym  Salomon 

in  this  report,  is  a  just  one,  and  the  recom 
pense  he  seeks  ought  not  to  be  longer  delayed. 
"  Abundant  proof  is  presented  that  Haym 
Salomon  rendered  very  essential  aid  to  the 
cause  of  the  Revolution,  and  that  he  did  so, 
judging  by  so  many  of  his  acts,  disinterestedly 
and  from  a  sincere  and  ardent  love  for  human 
freedom." 

In  the  report  submitted  by  the  Committee 
on  Revolutionary  Claims  in  the  Senate,  under 
date  July  2,  1865,  the  justice  of  the  claim  was 
again  affirmed,  and  a  further  attestation  of  the 
remarkable  public  spirit  of  Haym  Salomon 
was  made,  in  these  words,  viz. : 

"  It  is  also  proven  by  the  vouchers  before 
your  committee  that  Haym  Salomon  provided 
the  means  to  support  the  ambassador  of  the 
King  of  Spain,  Don  Francisco  Rendon,  who 
was  in  secret  alliance  with  the  Revolutionary 
Government,  and  whose  supplies  were  cut  off 
by  the  British  cruisers.  This  fact  was  ac 
knowledged  in  an  official  letter  from  that 
minister  to  the  Governor-General  of  Cuba, 
and  the  original  orders,  uncancelled,  to  the 
amount  of  ten  thousand  Spanish  dollars,  are 
before  your  committee,  showing  that  the 
amount  was  never  paid.  But  the  memorialist 
does  not  nor  never  has  asked  this  Government 
to  pay  that  sum. 

32 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

"  All  the  former  reports  from  the  commit 
tees  of  both  houses  show  that  Haym  Salomon 
supported  from  his  private  means  many  of  the 
principal  men  of  the  Revolution,  who  other 
wise,  as  stated  by  themselves,  could  not  have 
attended  to  their  public  duties,  among  whom 
are  mentioned  Jefferson,  Madison,  Lee,  Steu- 
ben,  Mifflin,  St.  Clair,  Blond,  Jones,  Monroe, 
Wilson  and  others." 

The  unsecured  loans  of  Haym  Salomon  in 
the  Nation's  supreme  crisis,  like  Washing 
ton's  advance  of  $64,000,  at  an  earlier  period, 
out  of  his  own  purse,  with  no  other  security 
but  his  own  faith  in  the  cause,  to  pay  his  daily 
expenses,  while  he  was  leading  their  armies, 
inspired  the  confidence  that  made  men  rally 
'round  the  flag.  Even  so  Jeremiah  purchased 
a  field  in  Anathoth,  in  the  days  when  Judah 
was  captive  under  Babylon,  paying  down 
seventeen  shekels  of  silver  as  a  token  of  his 
faith  that  the  land  would  some  day  be  de 
livered  from  the  enemy  and  restored  to  peace 
ful  habitation.  Washington's  pledge  of  prop 
erty  to  liberty  was  repaid  by  a  grateful  people 
— but  for  his  services,  not  a  dollar. 

The  men  who  stood  with  Washington  were 

33 


Haym  Salomon 

recklessly  rash  in  the  pursuit  of  their  ideals. 
John  Dickinson  said:  "  It  is  not  our  duty  to 
leave  wealth  to  our  children,  but  it  is  our  duty 
to  leave  liberty  to  them.  We  have  counted 
the  cost  of  this  contest  and  find  nothing  so 
dreadful  as  voluntary  slavery." 

Samuel  Adams,  hungry  and  poorly  clad, 
rejected  with  scorn  the  offer  of  a  profitable 
office,  wealth,  a  title  even,  to  turn  him  from 
his  allegiance  to  America. 

John  Adams  wrote  to  his  wife:  "I  have 
accepted  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  and  thereby  have  consented  to  my  own 
ruin,  to  your  ruin  and  to  the  ruin  of  our  chil 
dren." 

She  replied:  "  I  am  willing,  in  this  cause, 
to  run  all  the  risks  with  you  and  be  ruined 
with  you  if  you  are  ruined." 

Benjamin  Franklin,  past  seventy,  then  the 
most  celebrated  man  in  all  America,  accepted 
the  dangerous  mission  to  France,  saying:  "  I 
am  old  and  good  for  nothing,  but  as  the 
storekeepers  say  of  the  remnants  of  cloth,  '  I 
am  but  a  fag  end  and  you  may  have  me  for 
what  you  please.'  ' 

34 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

America  has  honored  these  patriotic  men 
and  justly  so,  by  high  places  in  her  history, 
and  as  we  sing  their  praises  we  are  inspired 
with  the  invincible  determination  to  give  our 
country  to  our  children  as  we  got  it  from  our 
fathers,  a  free  and  independent  Nation,  but 
this  man,  Haym  Salomon,  who,  renouncing 
the  maxim  of  worldly  wisdom  which  says, 
"  Get  all  you  can  and  keep  all  you  get,"  gave 
all  he  had  to  the  cause  of  America,  gave  it 
in  a  crucial  moment,  when  money  alone  saved 
the  day,  and  when,  had  he  kept  it,  he  could 
have  made  millions,  and  it  is  only  just  to 
ask  that  future  writers  of  American  history 
acknowledge  "  the  little  Jew,"  the  real  finan 
cier  of  the  American  Revolution.  Shall  not 
the  people  of  this  peerless,  unrivalled,  unap- 
proached  and  unapproachable  Republic,  now 
in  the  days  of  their  prosperity,  erect  to  this 
early  benefactor  a  monument  at  Washington, 
a  memorial  to  this  ardent  lover  of  human  free 
dom,  who  did  in  his  little  office  in  Front  Street, 
Philadelphia,  for  the  Nation's  credit,  what 
Washington  did  on  the  field  of  battle  for  the 
people's  freedom? 

35 


Bibliography 


A.  U.  S.  GOVERNMENT  REPORTS  ON  HAYM 
SALOMON  CLAIM 

Rep.  F.  A.  Talmadge,  April  26,  1848, 
House  Reports,  No.  504,  3Oth  Congress,  ist 
sess.,  Vol.  III. 

Report  of  Senator  J.  D.  Bright,  July  28, 
1848.  Senate  Reports  No.  219,  3Oth  Con 
gress,  ist  sess. 

Report  of  Senator  I.  P.  Walker,  August  9, 
1850.  Senate  Reports,  No.  177,  3 ist  Con 
gress,  ist  sess.,  Vol.  I. 

Report  of  Senator  Charles  Durkee,  March 
9,  1860.  Senate  Reports,  No.  127,  36th 
Congress,  ist  sess.,  Vol.  I. 

Report  of  Senator  M.  S.  Wilkinson,  July 
2,  1862.  Senate  Reports,  No.  65,  37th  Con 
gress,  2d  sess. 

Senate  Reports,  June  24,  1864,  No.  93, 
37th  Congress,  20!  sess. 

36 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

Senate  Report  to  3ist  Congress. 

Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress,  No. 
41,  Vol.  IX,  p.  58. 

The  House  Report  (No.  2,556  to  accom 
pany  H.  R.  7,896)  summarizes  the  efforts 
made  in  previous  Congresses  and  reprints 
in  full  the  Senate  Report  to  the  37th 
Congress. 

B.     BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES 

Adams,  Herbert  B.,  Haym  Salomon: 

Publication,  American  Jewish  Historical 
Society,  No.  2,  pp.  15-19. 

Daly,  Judge  Charles  Patrick : 

Settlement  of  the  Jews  in  North  America. 
Edited  by  Max  J.  Kohler,  New  York,  1893; 
pp.  58-60. 

Hollander,  Jacob  H. : 

Some  further  references  relating  to  Haym 
Salomon.  Publications  of  the  American  Jew 
ish  Historical  Society,  Vol.  Ill  (1895)  ;  pp. 

7-L 

Jewish  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  X  (1905)  ;  pp. 

653-655. 

Magnus,  Lady  Kate : 

37 


Haym  Salomon 

Outlines  of  Jewish  History,  Philadelphia, 
1890;  p.  350. 

Madison,  James: 

Writings  (Hunt),  228-242. 

Markens,  Isaac: 

The  Hebrews  in  America,  New  York, 
1888;  pp.  66-70. 

Morris,  Robert: 

Diary  (in  Mss.),  in  Library  of  Congress, 
Washington. 

Salomon,  Haym  M. : 

Two  letters  relating  to  Haym  Salomon. 
Publications  of  the  American  Jewish  Histor 
ical  Society,  No.  1 6  (1907),  pp.  189-192. 


II 

Other  Jewish  Patriots  of 
the  Revolution 

HAYM  SALOMON  was  not  the  only 
Jew  who  sacrificed  his  fortune  for 
Independence,  for  we  find  that 
among  the  signers  of  the  bills  of  credit  for 
the  Continental  Congress,  in  1776,  were  Ben 
jamin  Levy,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Benjamin 
Jacobs,  of  New  York.  Samuel  Lyon,  of  New 
York,  was  among  the  signers  of  similar  bills 
in  1779.  Isaac  Moses,  of  Philadelphia,  con 
tributed  $15,000  to  the  Colonial  Treasury, 
and  Herman  Levy,  another  Philadelphian,  re 
peatedly  advanced  considerable  sums  for  the 
support  of  the  army  in  the  field.  Manuel 
Mordecai  Noah,  of  South  Carolina,  not  only 
served  in  the  army,  as  an  officer  on  Washing 
ton's  staff,  and  likewise  with  General  Marion, 
39 


Hayrn  Salomon 

but  gave  $100,000  to  further  the  cause  in 
which  he  was  enlisted. 

Among  the  patriots  of  the  South  none 
worked  more  unselfishly  than  Mordecai  Shef- 
tall,  "  Chairman  of  the  Rebel  Parochial  Com 
mittee,"  organized  to  regulate  the  internal  af 
fairs  of  Savannah  and  composed  of  patriots, 
opposed  to  the  royal  government,  and  who, 
after  active  hostilities  were  begun  in  the 
South,  was  appointed  Commissary-General  to 
the  troops  of  Georgia  in  July,  1777,  and  soon 
thereafter  was  also  appointed  Commissary  to 
the  Continental  troops;  and  when  the  British 
attacked  Savannah  in  December,  1778,  Shef- 
tall's  name  appears  not  only  foremost  among 
the  patriot-defenders  of  that  city  and  as  one 
who  advanced  considerable  money  to  the 
cause,  but  as  one  who  was  placed  on  board 
the  prison  ship  because  of  his  refusal  to  flock 
to  the  royal  standard.  In  1780,  when  the 
British  authorities  passed  the  disqualifying 
act,  we  find  the  name  of  Mordecai  Sheftall 
near  the  head  of  the  list  with  the  most  promi 
nent  patriot  names  of  Georgia. 

Among  the  600  Jews  of  Charleston,  S.  C., 
40 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

then  the  largest  Jewish  city  in  America,  there 
was  not  one  Tory. 

The  Jews  in  New  York  were  not  on  a  foot 
ing  of  political  equality  with  Christians  until 
the  adoption  of  the  first  constitution  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  1777,  New  York  hav 
ing  been  the  first  State  actually  granting  full 
religious  liberty  to  the  Jews.  Even  in  Mary 
land,  to  which  Bancroft  has  referred  as 
among  the  first  colonies  which  "  adopted  re 
ligious  freedom  as  the  basis  of  the  State,"  re 
ligious  freedom  was  limited  to  those  who  be 
lieved  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  accompanied  by  a 
proviso,  which  declared  that  any  person  who 
denied  the  Trinity  should  be  punished  with 
death.  Even  after  the  Revolution,  though 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
a  Jew  was  eligible  to  any  office,  no  one  could 
hold  any  office  under  the  government  of 
Maryland  without  signing  a  declaration  that 
he  believed  in  the  Christian  religion.  These 
intolerant  provisions  were  not  repealed  in 
Maryland  until  February  26,  1825. 

Though  subjected  to  civil  disabilities  and 
unreasonable  demands  in  most  of  the  States, 
41 


Haym  Salomon 

where  they  had  settled  prior  to  the  Revolu 
tion,  yet  the  Colonial  cause  found  among  the 
Jews  its  staunchest  friends.  Freely  they  gave 
their  lives  for  Independence  and  aided  with 
their  money,  to  equip  and  maintain  the  armies 
of  the  Revolution. 

The  Non-Importation  Resolution  in  1765, 
the  first  organized  movement  in  the  agitation 
for  separation  from  the  mother  country — a 
document  still  preserved  in  Carpenter's  Hall, 
Philadelphia — contains  the  following  Jewish 
names:  Benjamin  Levy,  Samson  Levy,  Joseph 
Jacobs,  Hayman  Levy,  Jr.,  David  Franks, 
Mathias  Bush,  Michael  Gratz,  Bernard  Gratz 
and  Moses  Mordecai. 

The  decision  reached  in  New  York,  in 
1770,  to  make  more  stringent  the  Non-Im 
portation  Agreement,  which  Colonists  had 
adopted  to  bring  England  to  terms  on  the  tax 
ation  question,  had  among  its  signers,  Samuel 
Judah,  Hayman  Levy,  Jacob  Moses,  Jacob 
Meyers,  Jonas  Phillips  and  Isaac  Seixas. 

Cyrus  Adler  recently  called  attention  to  the 
following  incident,  based  on  the  unpublished 
letter  of  Jared  Sparks:  "  At  the  outbreak  of 
42 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

the  Revolutionary  War,  a  Mr.  Gomez,  of 
New  York,  proposed  to  a  member  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress  that  he  form  a  company  of 
soldiers  for  service.  The  member  of  Con 
gress  remonstrated  with  Mr.  Gomez  on  the 
score  of  age,  he  being  then  sixty-eight,  to 
which  Mr.  Gomez  replied  that  he  '  could  stop 
a  bullet  as  well  as  a  younger  man.'  ' 

Colonel  Isaac  Franks  became  aide-de-camp 
to  Washington,  holding  the  rank  of  Colonel 
on  his  staff  and  served  with  distinction 
throughout  the  war. 

Major  Benjamin  Nones,  a  native  of  Bor 
deaux,  France,  who  came  to  America  in  1777, 
served  on  the  staffs  of  both  Lafayette  and 
Washington.  He  entered  service  under  Pu- 
laski,  as  a  private,  and  as  he  writes:  "  fought 
in  almost  every  action  which  took  place  in 
Carolina,  and  in  the  disastrous  affair  of  Sa 
vannah  shared  the  hardships  of  that  sangui 
nary  day/'  He  became  Major  of  a  legion  of 
four  hundred  men,  attached  to  Baron  de 
Kalb's  command  and  composed  in  part  of  He 
brews. 

Colonel   David  S.    Franks,   of    Montreal, 

43 


Haym  Salomon 

openly  sympathized  with  and  aided  the  Amer 
icans  under  Generals  Montgomery  and  Ar 
nold  during  their  invasion  of  Canada,  and 
was  forced  to  flee  from  Canada  in  1776,  when 
the  American  forces  abandoned  the  country. 
The  name  of  David  S.  Franks  appeared  on 
Governor  Carleton's  list  of  twenty-nine  per 
sons,  sent  to  the  British  Ministry  early  in 
I777>  "  being  the  principal  persons  who  set 
tled  in  the  province  who  very  zealously  served 
the  rebels  in  the  winter  of  1775-1776,  and 
fled  upon  their  leaving  it."  Franks,  who  left 
Canada  with  the  intention  of  joining  the 
American  Army,  although  his  course  in  this 
matter  resulted  in  heavy  pecuniary  losses  in 
his  business  affairs  and  also  alienated  him 
from  his  father,  became  aide-de-camp  to  Ar 
nold,  intrepid,  zealous,  and  able  soldier  that 
he  was,  until  jealousy,  extravagance  and  spite 
led  him  to  take  up  the  traitor's  role.  Franks 
gave  testimony  to  Mrs.  Arnold's  innocence 
of  all  complicity  in  her  husband's  treason. 
Suspicions  were  aroused  against  Franks  on 
account  of  Arnold's  treason,  but  after  a 
searching  inquiry  into  his  conduct,  he  was  not 
44 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

only  acquitted,  but  was  sent  to  Europe  with 
important  dispatches  to  Jay  and  Franklin, 
with  instructions  to  await  their  orders.  In 
a  letter  from  Robert  Morris  to  Franklin, 
dated  Philadelphia,  July  13,  1781,  we  read: 
"  The  bearer  of  the  letter,  Major  Franks, 
formerly  aide-de-camp  to  General  Arnold, 
and  honorably  acquitted  of  all  connection  with 
him,  after  a  full  and  impartial  inquiry,  will 
be  able  to  give  you  our  public  news  more  par 
ticularly  than  I  could  relate  them." 

Philip  Moses  Russell,  in  the  spring  of 
1775,  enlisted  as  a  surgeon's  mate  under  com 
mand  of  General  Lee.  After  the  British  oc 
cupation  of  Philadelphia  in  September,  1777, 
he  became  surgeon's  mate  to  Surgeon  Nor 
man  of  the  Second  Virginia  Regiment.  Rus 
sell  went  into  the  winter  quarters  with  the 
army  at  Valley  Forge,  1777-1778. 

Sickness  forced  him  to  resign  in  August, 
1780.  He  received  a  letter  of  commendation 
from  General  Washington  "  for  his  assidu 
ous  and  faithful  attentions  to  the  sick  and 
wounded." 

Solomon  Bush,  Emanuel  de  la  Motta,  Ben- 

45 


Haym  Salomon 

jamin  Ezekiel,  Jason  Sampson,  Ascher  Levy, 
Nathaniel  Levy,  David  Hays  and  his  son 
Jacob,  Reuben  Etting,  Jacob  I.  Cohen,  Major 
Lewis  Bush,  Aaron  Benjamin,  Moses  Bloom- 
field,  Isaac  Israel  and  Benjamin  Moses  are 
the  names  of  a  few  of  the  other  Jews  who 
distinguished  themselves  upon  the  battlefields 
of  the  Revolution. 

A  pretty  good  record  is  it  not,  when  we 
remember  that  there  were  only  3,000  Jews 
— men,  women  and  children,  in  the  Colonies 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution? 

The  commemoration  of  the  first  battlefield 
of  the  Revolutionary  War  was  made  possible 
through  a  Jew.  Upon  learning  that  Amos 
Lawrence,  of  Boston,  had  pledged  himself  to 
give  $10,000  to  complete  the  Bunker  Hill 
monument,  if  any  other  person  could  be  found 
to  give  a  like  amount,  Judah  Touro,  of  New 
Orleans,  who  came  to  the  aid  of  Andrew  Jack 
son  during  the  memorable  defense  of  that 
city,  immediately  sent  a  check  for  the  amount. 
In  the  History  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
which  was  published  by  George  Washington 
Warren,  appears  the  following  tribute  to  Ju- 
46 


The  Financier  of  the  Revolution 

dah  Touro :  "  He  was  one  of  that  smallest  of 
all  classes  into  which  mankind  can  be  divided 
— of  men  who  accumulate  wealth  without 
ever  doing  a  wrong,  taking  an  advantage,  or 
making  an  enemy;  who  become  rich  without 
being  avaricious;  who  deny  themselves  the 
comforts  of  life  that  they  may  acquire  the 
means  of  promoting  the  comfort  and  elevat 
ing  the  condition  of  their  fellowmen."  At  a 
dinner  given  at  Faneuil  Hall  on  June  17, 
1843,  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  mon 
ument,  the  two  great  benefactors  of  the  asso 
ciation  were  remembered  by  the  following 
toast : 

"  Amos  and  Judah,  venerated  names, 
Patriarch   and   Prophet   press  their  equal 

claims; 
Like  generous  coursers  running  neck  and 

neck, 

Each  aids  the  work  by  giving  it  a  check. 
Christian  and  Jew,  they  carry  out  one  plan, 
For,  though  of  different  faiths,  each  is  in 

heart  a  man." 


47 


BY  MADISON  C.  PETERS 


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